Tremont and Environs

The sorceress’ summoned owl reports that the very large chamber has a pillar in the middle from which flows water, forming a pool at its base. The a strong stream flows to the south (towards Duvik’s Pass) and exits the chamber through a crevice at the base of the wall. The tall pillar has a narrow path that spiral up it and there is a single orc near the top. Lazarus casts Magic Weapon on Omin’s greatsword and Protection from Evil on himself, then the party advances into the room.

They see Jakk of the Tornclaw Clan reading from a scroll. As he finishes, he gestures at the owl, which was winging toward him. It shimmers and wavers for a moment, but then shakes it off and continues. The party advance to ranged distance and started shooting, except for Omin, who continued to close for melee. As Omin approached, Jakk cast a spell which caused her to stutter step for a moment, but then she, too, shook off the effect and continued. A few arrows, bolts, magic missiles, owl pecks, resisted spells, and sword strokes later, Jakk lay dead at their feet.

Eldritch symbols carved all around the pillar ceased glowing. Almost immediately, there was a visible effect on the water flowing from the pillar and in the pool. Where it had been murky and very unsavory (or worse), it began to flow clear. The foul smell also started to clear.

Chasing the last of the three kobolds across the large chamber, the party shoots it before it can climb back up to the ledge. They still are concerned about how they would attack something on the ledge, so they decide to continue down the tunnel, watching their backs a little more closely.

A good distance down the tunnel they see a lighted room ahead. As they approach, they begin to feel warmth and then solid heat. Entering the room they see there is a large bonfire at the middle of the chamber. They are also hit by an awful stench and notice a large number of decaying bodies are all over the floor here. Ichor drains from the decaying bodies and flows eastward. As the group approached the fire, four of the bodies rose up and moved toward them- undead! Lazarus brandished the “lightning clenched fist” of Heironeous and called on the power of the god. Two of the zombies were immediately struck down. Lazarus then admonished the other two, who then turned and fled to the far corner of the room, where they were easily struck down.

As the party passed the fire and approached the tunnel exiting on to the east, four zombies (kobolds, this time), stepped from the walls of the tunnel and attacked. Lazarus again invoked the power of Heironeous. Two of the zombies fled into that same corner of the room, while the other two fled back down the hallway. The two in the room were quickly dispatched.

Proceeding down the tunnel, the group hears a harsh voice, in orcan, invoke the name of Gruumsh and rebuke the two kobold zombies- telling them to return to the battle. The zombies returned and attacked, while the voice continued to shout threats at someone named M’dok. The two zombies were taken out with relative ease. The party then approached the end of the tunnel and considered options.

The sorceress summoned a celestial owl and sent it into the next chamber to scout. The voice then cried, “this is not the creature of a kobold sorcerer- you must have dealt with M’dok. Show yourself, fool! I welcome your challenge as a test from Gruumsh, my god, and by his will, I will prevail. My vengeance on the human weaklings in the village will be complete!”

The PCs (an elven sorceress- Geometria, a human cleric of Heironeous- Lazarus, a halfling bard- Marlo, and a human fighter- Olmin) began, already an adventuring company, on a quest to find the runaway son of a Tremont merchant. They have followed him to Duvik’s Pass, a mining community that had been supplying silver to Tremont (and elsewhere). Entering the town, it seems nearly deserted with both the inn and the general store closed due to sickness. There is a meeting of town leaders going on in the community hall.

The town is in the middle of a disease outbreak. People have been getting sick with a burning fever, lingering, and often dying. It started slower- mostly men coming home from the mine, but now it is hitting everyone. The severity of the disease also seems to have gotten worse in the last ten or twelve days. Compounding the problem, the miners on the latest of the weekly shifts at the mine are now overdue by a couple of days. On the plus side, the raids by a kobold tribe appear to have stopped- perhaps they are also suffering the same sickness; also no new tribes of orcs have moved in to the area of the pass since the town (with some soldiers of the duke who were passing through) wiped out the nearby clan nearly six months ago. (“We were handling the kobolds; with the orcs gone this was finally turning into a decent place to raise your children- and now this disease!”)

The company explains who they are looking for and discovers that the merchant’s son is with the now overdue mining crew. The elders ask them to find out what have happened to the miners and the party agrees. The trek to the mine, following the deep wagon tracks, is without incident.

In the yard area outside the mine shaft, no one is evident, but tools of all sorts are littered about. As the party examines in more detail, they discover that some are blood-covered, as if they had been used used as make-shift weapons. No bodies are present. The party moves down the entrance to the mine, a wide, nearly-horizontal shaft that goes northward into the mountain. After 120’, the shaft opens into a mid-sized room. Various mining gear is scattered about, but attention is immediately drawn to a pair of overturned mining carts in the middle of the room with a pair of human legs sticking out from underneath.

Moving the carts to examine the body, the party trips a wire which pulls a thunderstone down from the ceiling. It crashes with a horrendously loud sound, temporarily deafening all. The party finds that the body had been killed by numerous puncture wounds. Further searching finds some ore and processing equipment. There are two other passages from the room- to the west is a hallway while there is a natural tunnel to the east. Venturing west, the party goes about 40’ before finding a closed door. Listening being pointless, they enter and see that there are overturned tables in the large room and that the tables are being used as cover by crossbow wielding kobolds. Exchanging ranged attacks with the four kobolds, the party takes somes hits, but soon emerges victorious. They find a small amount of coin on the bodies.

This room turns out to be a kitchen and dining facility. Whatever the miners used to cook here, the kobolds now have a pot of something foul-smelling and distasteful on the fire. All agree to avoid it. There is a closed door in the northern wall. Listening still not being an option, the party again proceeds. A crossbow bolt hits the door just next to Omin’s face, so she slams it back shut- but not before noticing that this is a narrow, long storeroom with more kobolds hiding behind barrels at the far end. Deciding that this is not something they want to deal with now, the party piles a couple of the tables and other heavy gear in front of the door, preventing the kobolds from pushing it open.

Moving back into the processing room, the party then explores the passage to the east. It is wider, nearly 20’, but narrows as it progresses and descends noticeably. Proceeding cautiously for 40’ or 50’, the party sees that shaft is opening into a larger room, when Lazarus spots an unnatural outline on the floor. Stopping the others and probing at it, he realizes it is a pit trap. Given that it nearly fills the corridor, the party briefly ponders, then decides to spring it with one of the carts and some ore from the processing room. After doing this, they decide to bridge the pit with another of the large dining tables they had found. Marlo hides in the shadows of the corridor to mount a rear guard while the others go to get the table. The others are not even out of sight when a couple of kobolds, focused on the retreating light, pass Marlo and follow the others. Marlo lets them get a little ahead, then shoots one in the back, killing it. As the other turns and rushes him, he takes it out, too. He is very nonchalant about it as the others came back carrying a table.

The pit now bridged, they move out of the tunnel, entering a very large natural cavern. It is dimly lighted throughout by glowing lichens. There are large stalactites, stalagmites, and joined columns throughout the area. A section of the western wall shows evidence of being worked for silver- there are numerous ropes up to a ledge that the miners would use while mining the face. As the party approaches, they are met with a shower of crossbow bolts from the ledge. They rush on through the chamber, exiting out a tunnel to the northeast.

As they proceed down the tunnel, Lazarus is hit by a crossbow bolt. They realize that three kobolds have followed them. The party turns to attack and the kobolds run. Two are caught and killed as they are crossing the main chamber back toward the ledge, but one continues to run.